Narduzzi on preparation, Virginia and more

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Pat Narduzzi met the media Thursday to discuss Virginia, preparation, recruiting and more. Here’s the full rundown of what he said.

Narduzzi: Three good days of practice. Excited about another opportunity to go out and that’s all I’ve got. Easy week.

You’re always excited and you always have good days of practice; have you ever had consecutive bad days of practice?
Narduzzi: We had a good day overall. I can say there’s one little thing that guys weren’t really happy about today, but we won’t discuss that. They’re always good days. I mean, we’ve got 105 kids out there; there’s always little situations that you don’t like.

You’re talking on the field?
Narduzzi: Yeah. Of course.

Your run game and what you did on Saturday at Duke, as you went back and looked at the runs and what you were able to do, did you come out of it feeling like there were sustainable things, things you can do consistently? Maybe not break 79 and 92-yard runs every week, but sustainable for the final four games?
Narduzzi: You hope it is. I think our kids think it is. But I’ll say this: every defense is built, structurally, a little bit different. Bronco and the Cavs are a little bit different than what Duke was, Duke’s different than Syracuse, Syracuse is different than North Carolina State. So everybody’s got a little bit different personality, number one, structure and then people. It all comes down to players and it’s going to be a sloppy game, it looks like, on Saturday, so bring your rain gear and get ready to play some Pittsburgh football.

You mentioned they’re a physical football team; have you had to upgrade or turn up the physicality during practice to simulate that going into this game?
Narduzzi: Not really, because we’re a physical football team, too. I think we pride ourselves on being a tough, physical team, so I think we’re that already and I think that’s what Bronco coaches as well. We’ll find out who’s got more Saturday.

You’ve been saying since Saturday that Darrin Hall’s just so low maintenance, just shuts up and works. How often do guys come to you and say, ‘Coach, why am I not getting more carries? Why am I not getting more snaps or more targets or whatever?
Narduzzi: Not many times do they come in, because they see it. But you always can look at some guy’s attitudes change, you know? As a coach and as a father, when your kids are down and they didn’t get to go out and play, what do they do? Kind of sit in the corner a little bit and kind of give you - so there are little things, and sometimes it’s not very noticeable. You kind of - who’s got kids? You know it. When they don’t get what they want, you’ll see some little bit - and that’s why we talk about attitude all the time. And again, it goes with youth. Some young guys don’t know how to take it. Older guys like, you know, a Max Browne for example, when he got pulled earlier in the year, he can take it well because he’s a man and he’s older. Where a younger guy might not be able to get it the first time; they figure out that, ‘Hey, be happy for my other guy that’s rushing for 250’ and let it go. I think that’s part of maturity, too.

That’s the kind of little stuff that you’ve never seen from Darrin.
Narduzzi: Yeah, he’s never been a guy that’s ever, ever - I don’t think he knows what my office looks like. He just doesn’t - he’s just like this. Great kid.

How big of a challenge this week for Jimmy Morrissey, given he has Eli Hanback lined up across from him, being he’s their leading tackler from the defensive line, and Micah Kiser goes a lot pre-snap, so it’s kind of on Jimmy to communicate that to the offensive line?
Narduzzi: It’s going to be big. That’s a matchup to watch in there. He’s head-up. He’ll get some help out of his guards at times, but Jimmy’s got to hold up there at the center spot and it will be a challenge for him. He’s a good football player. You talk about running the game - we can’t have a nose tackle disrupt our run game, you know? I think that’s all part of the structure of what they do, and Jimmy can handle him, too.

If Jimmy does his job, I guess there will be less chance for Kiser to come downhill and smack people?
Narduzzi: There’s a lot of guys. Everybody’s got to be together. They can’t have one guy going this way and the other guy going that way. They’ve got to be together in that offense or that defense.

Do you feel like playing Rice has helped in preparation, having seen this?
Narduzzi: It helps. I mean, it helps. And we’ve seen other 3-4 teams that will sprinkle it in and get pieces of it. But not purely the 3-4 the whole time. So it helps and we’ve done stuff during the preseason where they work on the 3-4 as well. So we’ve done that, just like we work on option, they’ll be working on a 3-4. I mean, we run a little bit of it on third down and our guys have run against that as well.

How have they looked better than the group that you saw last year?
Narduzzi: How do they look better? I’ll tell you after the game. They’re doing more stuff, I think, offensively and defensively. I think their package is bigger, so I think any time the package is bigger, maybe it makes you better because there’s more things you have to defend on side of the ball and more stuff you have to block and prepare for on the other side. So they’re more mature, I think they’re playing faster.

Alex Bookser said he was kind of frustrated yesterday because every year he’s getting asked about Kiser. What is it that he really does so well to get to the quarterback?
Narduzzi: I don’t know. Did you ask Alex? I’m not frustrated.

He just - it feels like he has to talk about it every year because he’s an impact player? What do you see out of him that allows him to be such an impact -
Narduzzi: Well, he’s an all-conference middle linebacker and he does the details. He’s a 240-pound guy - I was talking yesterday, their Mike is 240 and ours is 215. There’s a little different guy there. So he’s a big, physical guy that can take over a gap by himself and knock some people back. Not from the D-line, but from that second level.

I’ve always been curious about the amount of time that coaches spend preparing for games during the week. Have you found that you and your coaches, because you have an inexperienced team and a difficult schedule, have you put in more hours this season?
Narduzzi: I would say no. I don’t care what the schedule looks like. If anybody’s putting in more hours because we’re younger, then we’re probably not prepared. I think we stay consistent with what we do. We work long hours to begin with, so I don’t care if you’re playing Clemson or you’re playing Akron, we’re not taking anything for granted. We work hard every week and every season. We don’t look at it like that. We don’t - ‘Hey, we only have Virginia this week; let’s get out of here early today. Oh, we’ve got Clemson next week, how about we work a little bit longer?’ It’s consistent with what we do, what we game plan every night, whether it’s a third down, money down game plan or normal downs, it’s consistent with what we do. It doesn’t change.

I was thinking more because you have a lot of young guys.
Narduzzi: Yeah, it doesn’t change. The thing when you talk young guys, you maybe try to do less. So there’s less game-planning but you’re still putting in the effort, watching the tape with them and trying to get them to be what you want them to be.

What time do you normally get out of here at night?
Narduzzi: It doesn’t matter, Jerry. Come on now.

But it depends on what night. Every night’s a little bit different. I’ll be out of here a little earlier tonight and Sunday night, I don’t get out of here. So it doesn’t matter.

You don’t get out of here?
Narduzzi: No.

Sleep here?
Narduzzi: Try to.

Really?
Narduzzi: I told you it doesn’t matter. That ain’t gonna win a game.

Speaking of workload, have you noticed that the early signing day this year, has that changed anything for your staff, the way you approach recruiting in-season?
Narduzzi: We’ll head out on the road for a couple days in recruiting next week and we’ll give our guys a little bit of a break, as far as practice goes, try to get them fresh, try to get them healthier. But I can’t say there’s anything different except they’re going to sign earlier. I think the kids are excited about it. In a way, it’s good, and in a way, it’s - there’s still going to be a second - I don’t know what’s going to happen. We won’t know until after that signing day who’s signed, how many signed, what we have left and what are we going to go push for?

I’ll let you know afterwards, I guess. But there’s not much really going into it. We’re recruiting the same way we have, knowing that the 20th is a different deal. I don’t know if we’re going to have a recruiting event at Heinz or are we going to have two? Does anybody want to have two recruiting events at Heinz? Me either. One’s plenty.

Have you had those conversations with some of the guys in your class about, ‘We expect you to sign in December?
Narduzzi: Yeah. They know when they’re signing and the expectations are that. The great thing about it is, you’ll know on the 20th - if a guy is starting to go, ‘Oh, I don’t know, I think I want to do the next one.’ Well, guess what? I’m shopping for a new player. Which I’ll know. That’s fine. You don’t want to? Then I’ll know we’re going to get another guy.

It’s a three-day period, right?
Narduzzi: It was a month period before. That’s the crazy thing about it. The national signing day, usually the first Wednesday in February, and really, I believe - check me compliance-wise - but I believe until March 30th. So it used to be a month process from the first Wednesday to March 30th, so a guy could sign up until that point. We had Malik McDowell, who I think is with the Chargers now, he signed - we got up on the morning of April 1st, and at 11:58, he sent in his fax signing with us. We didn’t even check the fax machine; we thought, ‘We don’t know when this guy’s going to do it.’ So his original papers came in on the 30th of March. Someone said, ‘Hey, Malik’s paper’s in the fax machine.’ It was right next to our defensive staff room, and I was like, ‘What? It’s April fools,’ thinking it was an April fools joke.

So it’s been a month period. Our guys are signing on that date. You’ve seen it in the past: a guy signs a week later - it’s all in the same period of time. So I don’t understand why we’re going to sign a kid two days before Christmas. It just makes no sense. Our guys are going to sign on the 20th. If they don’t sign on the 20th, then I’m assuming they’re not signing with us until the next one. But we’re going to be looking for new players, too.

Would you want to see a system where guys can sign whenever they want? Or do you think that would be too crazy?
Narduzzi: I’m worried about Virginia right now. We’ve talked enough recruiting, to be honest with you. Right now, it doesn’t - Virginia’s really on my mind. We can go on forever.

Obviously some on-field areas, you’re not happy enough with how they’ve progressed; are you happy enough with how the team leadership has grown with players replacing all those guys who, as you used to say, sit in the front row of the room?
Narduzzi: When you compare our leadership this year compared to last year, the fewer seniors you have, the lesser it’s going to be. So are you happy with it? No; I don’t think we have the best group of leaders on the football team because we don’t have as many. It’s just not as many. We had guys that weren’t captains that were big-time leaders a year ago. Some are coming up and appearing as the season goes on and we’re still developing them. We had a meeting in here this morning with our leadership council. So I think it gets better, but never where you want it to be.

I think the more leaders than seniors you have running your team, they’re really - it’s their football team. I truly believe that. Coaches can talk, talk, talk, but it’s their football team and the more you have, the better you are.

Plus you’ve had some bad injury luck for two of your captains.
Narduzzi: Yeah, two of your captains. And you look at George Aston; that guy’s a leader. Whether he’s a captain or not, that guy leads the offense. That guy’s an emotional leader who’s one of the most intense guys out on the field. Tre Tipton - again, another guy who’s a natural leader. The guy’s one of our leaders now. We took him last week. We took 69 guys to Duke, and we took guys that don’t play because they have an effect on the team and they have great attitude and they’re leaders. So leadership’s important. And we have a lot of young guys that aren’t playing that are leaders, too.

How has Motley progressed this week?
Narduzzi: He’s had a great week. Just gotta have a great Saturday. That’s when it matters.